East meets West in craftwork project that impressed visitors to cultural festival

A group of French and Chinese artists teamed up to create a true fusion of East meets West artwork, displayed at the seventh China Chengdu International Festival of Intangible Cultural Heritage from Oct 17 to 22.

The works showcased originated from a Sino-French traditional handicraft cooperation project named "New Classic of Mountains and Seas".

For the project, Eric Benque, a French artist, enlisted seven fellow artists to create half an artwork each using their Western stylings, only for the other half to be created by Chinese artists from Chengdu using traditional Chinese methods.

Since Sept 17, Benque has looked into many intangible cultural heritage items in Chengdu, including lacquerware, silver engraving, bamboo weaving and Shu embroidery.

He worked together with inheritors to create a series of original works with both Chinese and French characteristics.